Cold Earth: A Novel [Paperback]

A team of six archaeologists from the United States, England, and Scotland assembles at the beginning of the Arctic summer to unearth traces of the lost Viking settlements in Greenland. But as they sink into uneasy domesticity, there is news of an epidemic back home, and their communications with the outside world fall away. Facing a Greenland winter for which they are hopelessly ill-equipped, Nina, Ruth, Catriona, Jim, Ben, and Yianni, knowing that their missives may never reach their loved ones, write final letters home. These letters make up the narrative ofCold Earth, with each section of the book composed of one character’s first-person perspective in letter form.
In this exceptional and haunting debut novel, Moss weaves a rich tapestry of personal narrative, history, love, grief, and naked survival.Cold Earthis both a heart-pounding thriller and a highly sophisticated novel of ideas.

Praise forCold Earth

“I’m not one for thrillers . . butCold Earthhad too many good ingredients to pass up . . . Moss draws six unforgettable individuals, through their interactions with fellow archeologists and through letters home to their loved ones. Bugs in amber, carbon in ice—a reader watches their existence constrict to survival.” —Los Angeles Times

“In stripped-down prose that never reveals too much, first-novelist Moss conjures an increasingly creepy atmosphere, the isolation and stark beauty of the Greenland coast, and the rigors of survival in a harsh environment.” —Booklist

Praise for the U.K. edition ofCold Earth

It is almost perfect . . . This is an unusually promising first novel. —Times Literary Supplement(London)

Few first novels are as topical as this . . . There is a lot to enjoy. —Financial Times(London)

Moss's stark writing delivers stinging splashes of cold water. Every elemelƒ$